Natives, Newcomers: Floridians All Advice For Transplants: Help Us Fix It Or Go Home

Saturday Special

April 14, 1990|By Linda Zinkovich, Special To The Sentinel

Yes, I am a native of Florida. And yes, there are times that I would like to tell the ''transplants'' to go back where they came from.

But I realize that there have been a great many benefits from the enormous growth this state has experienced. If only the people who move here did not expect this to be the land of milk and honey, where everything is just like it was at home, only better.

The first thing they complain about is the summer. It's too hot, it's too humid or there are too many bugs. What did they expect from a subtropical climate?

They love the warmer winters with no snow (except at Christmas, when they want snow), but they don't want the summers to be any warmer than back home.

During a meeting at my son's school, one parent complained that there were no covered areas for the children to have physical education classes in the warmer months. She was afraid her child would suffer some malady from the heat.

I wonder would they would have said when I was in school and none of the schools were air conditioned, much less had covered areas for phys ed. We had to learn to live in the heat and the humidity.

Then they complain about what we don't have that they had back home. Like better roads or more cultural events or major league teams. The list goes on and on.

But what happens when they are asked to support such things? The referendum for an added penny to the sales tax to fund new roads was soundly defeated. Since Florida natives make up only 10 percent of the population, there is no way we defeated it.

The Council for the Arts still has to go begging for donations. The Magic is doing well now, but look back at how hard the owners had to work to get the season ticket orders needed to obtain the franchise.

Most people who move down here come from areas where most of the growth happened before they were born.

I look back at Orlando and when I was born. It was surrounded by orange groves, and there was no Disney World.

I look back to when my 7-year-old son was born and remember the horses grazing in the pastures that lined Red Bug Road near where we live.

I look back to when my 3-year-old son was born and remember the tallest building in Orlando was the CNA Tower. Our growth has been phenomenal.

When I hear transplants complain, I want to shake them and say, ''Look, no one asked you to come. Either help us fix it or go home.''

There are some of us who really like it here. And to us, this is home.